What do you need the full sentence for, though? A passing familiarity with ethnic slurs and why they're tabooed, will already give you the answer that once you

What do you need the full sentence for, though? A passing familiarity with ethnic slurs and why they're tabooed, will already give you the answer that once you start splitting hairs about why or why not something that was said is offensive, then that is probably an indicator that - even if if it was a joke or the person saying it was part of the minority being slurred - it was inappropriate to say it. A passing familiarity with Bill Maher will give you the answer that he's not probably a person who would care all that much about my argument. All that being said, I am not sure I follow your conclusion that it's impossible to evaluate an apology without knowledge what it's for. The argument the article brings forth is about the structure and content of apologies in general. There's no need to cover each offense in detail.